Our commitment to sustainability

Our mission is to make science open – so that scientists can collaborate better and innovate faster to deliver the solutions that enable healthy lives on a healthy planet.

As such, sustainability is a constant focus of everything we do, from providing a digital-first path for researchers to publish open access, to directly supporting environmental research ourselves through global initiatives such as the Frontiers Planet Prize.

As part of this mission, we’re prioritizing reducing our carbon footprint and integrating sustainability into our products, operations, and communities—making it not just an aspect of how we do business, but the foundation of it. Frontiers’ company ethos is one of continuous improvement, challenging ourselves to do better. This report is an important benchmark in our mission.

We partner withPlan A to collect, measure, and consolidate our emissions data. Plan A is certified byTÜV Rheinland and isGreen House Gas Protocol compliant.

Our overall carbon footprint for 2024 measured7,732.06 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e).

• Scope 1 - 2.17 tCO2e - This corresponds to to direct emissions from sources we control, specifically related to fugitive emissions from refrigerant leakage and other similar sources in our main offices.
  

• Scope 2 - 207.6 tCO2e - This corresponds to indirect emissions associated with purchased electricity and heating in our main offices.
  

• Scope 3 - 7,522.29 tCO2e - Includes purchased goods and services, business travel, work from home, and emissions related to employee commuting. Emissions related to purchased goods and services have been calculated via spend-based factors for each supplier.

Emissions breakdown

By gathering emissions data from all our operations, we've established a comprehensive emissions baseline that enables us to monitor and reduce our carbon footprint.

• Purchased goods and services - 6,715.67 tCO2e

• Employee commute and work from home - 484.76 tCO2e

• Purchased electricity - 98.89 tCO2e

• Business travel - 282.16 tCO2e

• Purchased heating - 108.71 tCO2e

• Waste generated in operations - 35.59 tCO2e

• Fuel and energy-related activities - 4.11 tCO2e

• Fugitive emissions – 2.17tCO2e

In 2020 we demonstrated our commitment by becoming a signatory of theUN’s SDG Publishers Compact, recognizing that we have a crucial part to play in helping the publishing industry drive positive change on a larger scale. The UN Sustainable Development Goals provide a valuable framework for editorial priorities and objectives.

Our portfolio of sustainability journals 

Many of our journals support the UN SDGs, an urgent call by all countries to safeguard peace and prosperity for people and the planet. This echoes our own mission established in 2007 – making science open to accelerate the solutions we need for healthy lives on a healthy planet.

Our sustainability portfolio includes 12 journals specifically aligned with SDGs. They cover more than 100 specialty sections - from ecotourism to forest growth - dedicated to research that helps us speed up the solutions we need for sustainable development.Browse the sustainability portfolio >

Frontiers in Science

Our flagship multidisciplinary journal,Frontiers in Science, publishes a select number of exceptional peer-reviewed lead articles from internationally renowned researchers whose work addresses key global challenges in human and planetary health. They are enriched by hubs of supporting content that create bridges between researchers, decision-makers, innovators, and the public—empowering people to acces, share, and build on these advances. Since its launch, articles have attracted more than 120,000 downloads and 420 citations, and have been featured in around 700 news outlets.

Reflecting its mission,Frontiers in Science has a panoramic scope encompassing human health and wellbeing, climate change, ecology and biodiversity, urban development, agriculture. food, water, and energy systems, computing, and social and economic sciences. The journal also invites lead articles exploring the many intersections between these fields. We've covered diverse topics such as:

• The zero emissions commitment by Martin Siegert and Joeri Rogelj, which explores global warming after achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

• Immune-mediated diseases and climate change, by Kari Nadeau . The authors' research shows that the lack of positive environmental exposures combined with increasing negative exposures is resulting in a dramatic rise in diseases like asthma and cancer.

• Adapting crops for climate change, by Michael Palmgren and Sergey Shabala, which discusses two precision breeding strategies: introduce genes for abiotic stress tolerance into high-yield crops, or increase yields of stress-tolerant wild and underutilized plants.

Frontiers for Young Minds 

InFrontiers for Young Minds, our journal for readers aged 8-15, our partnerships with several leading global science institutions help us share the top research on the future of our planet with our young readers.

• We're working with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to complete ourcollection on climate change, featuring all the latest data and scenarios, while building on thefirst collection which provides all the core science needed for understanding the global crisis.

• We've partnered with KAUST and the UNDP in Saudi Arabia on ourSDGs collection which will feature 17 articles enabling young people to understand the implications of breakthrough research findings.

• We partner with Frontiers Planet Prize to publisharticles adapted for young readers, sharing the groundbreaking work by the prize's National and International Champions.

Employee engagement 

We encourage our employees to volunteer to causes close to their heart and give them paid time off to do so. In 2024, we spent 982 hours volunteering for causes and organizations that support the SDGs and local communities. 

Our Sustainability Network is a grassroots initiative created by Frontiers' staff to champion community involvement in climate action initiatives. Frontiers also supports active employee resource groups focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion to build a supportive and inclusive workplace culture.

Launched by the Frontiers Research Foundation on Earth Day 2022, theFrontiers Planet Prize – three prizes of 1 million USD every year – is awarded to research with the greatest potential to address the climate crisis and stabilize our planet. It’s the world’s biggest prize in scientific solutions for planetary health.

Endorsed by theInternational Science Council, the prize is adjudicated by an independently run jury of 100, chaired by Professor Johan Rockström. Each year the jury recognizes one National Champion per participating country, and three International Champions.

Now in its third edition, the prize has engaged more than 600leading universities and research institutions across six continents and 20 national academies of science and together, collectively recognizing 43 National Champions and their breakthrough research.

Video: no time to waste, no place to hide

Gilbert De Gregorio, the Associate Director of Frontiers Planet Prize, highlights an important message about the urgency of addressing climate change using the power of open science at the 3rd General Assembly of the International Science Council.

Strategic partnerships and alliances help drive our sustainability objectives, multiplying our impact and creating a significant effect on the world around us.

Each year, the world’s leaders meet at the Conference of the Parties (COP) to negotiate policy to address the threat of climate change. Frontiers attended in 2023 and 2024 with two main objectives.

• Firstly, we connect policymakers with leading scientists whose insights and developments can make an impact. In collaboration with the UNFCCC, we organize panel events with speakers from our editorial boards, Frontiers Planet Prize champions, the International Science Council and the World Economic Forum.

• Secondly, we advocate for the official recognition of open science principles by the Conference of the Parties.

  Open science plays a critical role in accelerating innovation and scientific collaboration - essential to reach carbon-neutral economies in less than 25 years.

In 2023, we joined forces with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) organizing two high-level panels on open and transformative science at COP28 in Dubai. Here we launched theOpen Science Charter, urging the need for open science.

Together with theUN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub (UGIH) and its partners, we’ve developed an innovation project that uses the work ofFrontiers Planet Prize winner Carlos Perez and focuses on conserving biodiversity with the support of the indigenous community in the Amazon basin. This was selected as one of the firstScience Mission Pilots of the International Science Council and was launched at the General Assembly in Muscat in January 2025.

In 2025 Frontiers' CEO and co-founder, Dr Kamila Markram, was invited to join global leaders in Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting. The panel discussion - titled 'COP 30 in the Amazon: Shaping Our Planetary Future' - emphasized that collaboration from academia, business, governments, and society is essential to harness the full potential of open science and tackle global challenges.

Video: leading the global sustainability agenda

Kamila participated in a panel during the WEF 2025 annual meeting. The session focused on Brazil's commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2040, bolstered by President Lula's decision to host COP30.

At Frontiers, we are committed to being a responsible business partner and upholding high ethical standards across our operations.

Oursupplier code of conduct ensures that our partners align with our values, prioritizing responsible and sustainable practices.

Ourmodern slavery statement outlines our approach to preventing exploitation within our supply chains and to promoting human rights, reinforcing our dedication to a sustainable future.

We are committed to transparency and promoting equity in our workplace. As part of our ongoing work towards this, we have published ourUK gender pay gap report, which details our performance and actions to address the gender pay gap.

Ouraccessibility statement outlines the key accessibility features available on our website and articles, and sets out the projects currently underway to further the accessibility of our services.